Many different types of fish retrievers have heretofore been proposed for landing fish after they have been caught and brought to the boat, dock or the like, including nets, hook-like gaffs or grapples, and gaffs of the type which employ a pair of spring loaded and symmetrically operated jaws positioned on opposite sides of the fish in the open and cocked position and then released to grasp or impale the fish from both sides. U.S. Pat. No. 2,924,482 discloses a primary grapple hook which also includes a spring loaded secondary grapple hook for preventing the escape of the fish from the primary hook.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,196,117; 2,930,648; 3,833,252; and 3,798,605 disclose fish gaffs including a pair of symmetrically operating jaws for engaging opposite sides of a fish positioned therebetween. The gaffs disclosed in these patents generally require some special type of manual manipulation of the gaff to move the jaws from the open to the closed position.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,049,875 and 1,056,343 also generally disclose a fish gaff including symmetrically operating jaws which are normally urged to the closed position by resilient means and also include a mechanical trigger which is released or actuated when a fish is positioned between the open jaws. However, the mechanical trigger mechanisms disclosed in these patents are complicated, require the manufacture and assembly of many complicated parts, and are subject to corrosion, particularly when the fish gaff is used in salt water fishing.